short position?

I cried when they knocked this place down.

Real tragic shame to have that place under the wrecking balls. They should have at least kept the front of the building. When I think of the F35 and what was in R&D years before, the P1154 or even the other design studies in the 1980s. Makes me sad. Also the double shaft of 1986 that ensured this place closed down.

some visual polish and not a lot else

My god the apps look terrible still. Its a joke that calculator is pretty much unchanged since windows 95. The interface where a window opens another window and another. UX is terrible. Even microsoft have white papers on why you should never do this. And yet they still do it.

What a shame from a company that used to be so innovative. They have failed to realise that an OS is more then just something to get you from the BIOS to a GUI. Infighting killed many a fantastic project internally. Microsoft *get* the internet, but alas many powerful voices dont want to change from the win / office model.

Re: Sanctions

Indeed stupid, I have Russian friends and they have no quarrel with us. Just as many Brits were dismayed about invading / bombing Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and now Syria - many of my Russian friends and myself think the whole escalation is stupid. Its missed opportunity. Instead of working with these guys - improving things, gaining access to the vast mineral wealth of Russia (its 1/8 of all the worlds land mass after all) we are pushing them away.

Long term this just makes Russia stronger. Sure, they loose some customers today, but oil and gas will still have a market in 50 yrs time when its around £1000 a barrel. The UK pumped most of its oil when it was <£30. Whos laughing now?

Re: Morals, ethics, principles...

I recall watching the same news, however reading up on what happened to the hero of the hour and Rose Revolution - Mikheil Saakashvili, is now hiding out in the USA as its a bit too hot for him to be at home where he would most likely stand trial. Makes you wonder if hes not the super nice hero guy the western media painted him out to be.

swift kick in the balls?

wow it was not so long ago that there was hype with blackberry then the "privacy battle" with the berry messenger at the same time apple, google and microsoft were opening the back doors to the security services. blackberry stood fast. now they are finished. moral of the story - always shaft the little guy because governments have more power.

already legacy

Seeing that the Chinese already have in development a range of systems to counter anything up to sub-orbital heights and satellite systems, its not a stretch to believe should this go into production there would be something very able to bring it down. Since Kelly Johnson retired, Lockheed just are not the same efficient company. The SR72 would be massively over budget, late and not as good as advertised - just like the F35 programme!

About the man not about the story?

So this film seems to focus on weather JA is a good or bad guy rather than if what was uncovered needed to be prosecuted? Because if they can rubbish JA then the message can be rubbished as well? If it was written / directed by Noam Chomsky then id watch but it smells a lot of "we the military have the need to do not nice things - all in the public interest".

extra altitude on weather balloon

was watching something on youtube about some Russian scientists who talked about balloons only usually getting around 22km height. However with a little prep they said 30km height was possible. http://youtu.be/MUAAtSyuBEc?t=17m10s around the 17:10min mark. They said they mixed the balloon in kerosene and benzine.